9: Todd Falcone – How To Impart Belief On An Individual

Todd Falcone Bio

Todd Falcone is a network marketing veteran and trainer with over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience in the profession of network marketing and direct selling. Over his 25 year career, Todd has personally sponsored over 4,000 distributors and has seen several of his organizations grow to well over 100,000 individuals globally. Over the past decade, he has dedicated a majority of his time speaking, teaching, and training on the subject of network marketing success, and now he’s here on Network Marketing Nation to share his six and seven figure success story with you!

Read The Entire Todd Falcone Interview Transcript Below:

Vince Reed 0:00 – 0:02

Network Marketing Nation, Episode Nine.

Todd Falcone 0:03 – 0:14

You can’t change things that you’re not aware of, so if you haven’t heard the phrase, “Awareness is the first step toward creating change” it is. And so if you create an exercise that enables you to be more aware of what you’re actually doing, you can then make a change.

Vince Reed 0:16 – 0:27

You’re listening to Network Marketing Nation, where six and seven figure top earners share their stories. My name is Vince Reed, Internet marketing trainer and coach. Prepare to be inspired.

Vince Reed 0:35 – 1:48

Before we start our live interview, here’s a quick word from our sponsors. If you want to use the Internet to generate traffic and leads for your network marketing business, visit MyInternetTrafficSystem.com and get the very best lead generation training for top earners. Want to generate your own leads but building quality capture pages have been too difficult or expensive? MITS Pages is the solution you have been looking for. Visit MITS Pages.com, that’s M-I-T-S Pages.com, and create quality lead capture pages for free.

Alright, I’m extremely excited, I’m here with the one and the only Todd Falcone. Todd Falcone is a network marketing veteran and trainer with over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience in the profession of network marketing and direct selling. Over his 25 year career, Todd has personally sponsored over 4,000 distributors and has seen several of his organizations grow to well over 100,000 individuals globally. Over the past decade, he has dedicated a majority of his time speaking, teaching, and training on the subject of network marketing success. Now he’s here on Network Marketing Nation to share his six and seven figure success story with you. Todd, what’s going on man? As always, it’s good to hear from you. How are things going today?

Todd Falcone 1:49 – 1:54

Vince, things are going fantastic and it’s great to be here with you today. I’m excited.

Vince Reed 1:53 – 2:01

Awesome, man. I always love getting a chance to chat with you. In fact, I miss you a little bit, man, we’ve got to connect at an event or something. It’s been too long.

Todd Falcone 2:02 – 2:04

It has been, it’s been a little while for sure.

Vince Reed 2:04 – 2:27

Yeah, absolutely. So you know, obviously you’ve got an amazing story, I mean, you’re an industry legend. I’ve learned from you for several years and I’m sure just by reading your quick bio there, people can see that you’re definitely someone that they should listen to. But was there anything that maybe I left out?

Is there anything you want to do in terms of filling in the blanks of things that people may want to know about you?

Todd Falcone 2:28 – 3:01

I like to have a good time. I don’t know, I mean, I look at it this way: I’m just a dude that got involved in network marketing and really wanted to be successful at it and put my head down and never wanted to give up and ended up doing really well in the profession and now I spend most of my time teaching and training and it’s taken me literally all over the planet on the seminar circuit and it’s just a blast. What a great way to see the world, stand in front of audiences of people that are eager to figure out how to be successful in this business. It’s just a blast.

Vince Reed 3:02 – 3:21

That’s awesome, man, I mean, I know even for myself, you know, thinking back over the, you know, since 2008 when I went full time, thinking of all the places that I’ve been I never thought that I would do the things I’ve done. And for you, I feel like every time I look up, I see you in another country.

Why don’t you just kind of list off some of the places you’ve been this year just helping people in this profession?

Todd Falcone 3:21 – 3:55

This year, let’s see: I’ve been to South Africa, Estonia, Sweden, Italy, Iceland, Norway, Finland, all over the US and a Canadian tour, multiple places in Canada. I just got back from Mexico. And I’m getting ready to spend a month in Australia speaking there on a tour and then I go back to Italy and Germany and then a lot of domestic stuff in between. Then I’ll be in the UK in November. So it’s been quite the year already.

Vince Reed 3:55 – 4:11

Man, that’s awesome. And some of those places I couldn’t even point out in a map. That’s cool, man. That’s awesome and I’m sure, like, you didn’t think that would be your life when you got started, right? I mean, the places this industry can lead you.

Todd Falcone 4:11 – 4:26

I had no idea. I had no clue ever. Yeah, in fact what I’m doing today, I never planned on being a speaker, I never imagined myself traveling all over the planet speaking and teaching network marketing. Early on in my career, I was just trying to figure out how to make a little bit of money.

Vince Reed 4:27 – 4:52

Well you’ve done a lot of that and you’re helping a lot of people, so that’s awesome. Alright, so let’s dig into some of these questions, man. So a lot of people that are listening are new to network marketing and like all of us, we have dreams of earning six and seven figures in this profession.

You know, tell everyone how that feels to have accomplished that goal and maybe kind of give them a taste or what it was like when you realized you did it, like, your hard work paid off.

Todd Falcone 4:53 – 6:33

You know, the first couple years I was in network marketing, I struggled pretty bad. I really didn’t make very much money the first two years and that was a very humbling experience. There was a time when I was like, “Hey, what’s wrong with me? How come I’m not making any money and other people around me are? Don’t I deserve it? I’m working hard.” And there was definitely a couple years of frustration and I finally had a breakthrough about, I don’t know, year three, year three and a half and was able to cross that … in fact, I remember I actually made my first $10,000 monthly check. I was working out of a garage in Pacific Grove, California, and I remember getting that first commission check and going, “Wow, I finally passed.” I wasn’t yet making six figures but I had a $10,000 a month and I was like, “This is pretty cool, I’m working out of a garage and I’m making $10,000 this month.” And I was able to continue that and I did end up actually earning six figures a year working out of that – I don’t want to make it sound too bad – I had a one-bedroom apartment and the garage was converted into a second bedroom which happened to be my office. I know it was liberating, it felt fantastic to finally see all the work that I had put in and a lot of the frustration I had early on finally go away and realize, “Hey, this is possible for me” and from that point forward I continued to progress and it feels great. I think for me more than anything the freedom that success buys you, it’s nice to have stuff. Of course, everybody goes and buys their bigger TV and a nicer car and a nicer house and all that. But more than anything it’s the freedom to come and go whenever you feel like it, and that to me is the thing that feels amazing, is getting up when I want and taking a day off or playing whenever I feel like it. That’s the best part of this business.

Vince Reed 6:33 – 6:47

Yeah, that is. That’s awesome. So, you know, what kept you going? I mean two years of really not having success, you know, that person out there.

What was it in you that kept you going, you know, striving to get to that goal?

Todd Falcone 6:47 – 8:33

You know, when I first got started in network marketing, I looked at these people that I heard testimonials from and they were actually on a VHS tape, and there was a couple of them onstage at this first meeting that I went to and I didn’t have any prior business experiences or I didn’t really have a whole lot of skepticism, so I just thought, “Wow, that’s pretty cool. These people are driving nicer cars.” I bought into the stories and I thought, “Well gosh, if these people can do it, then why can’t I do it?” And so I think the thing that kept me in was I knew I could have a job, but then I’d have a boss and I really have never liked having a boss and the thing that really kept me going in spite of not seeing results right away was I can go to a job and probably climb the corporate ladder and probably do pretty good. But I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do as good as I could do if I really figured out this network marketing thing, and so that’s the kind of thing that kept me in there. I’m going to just keep doing this until I get it figured out because that residual income thing which – I don’t know if I even completely understood it when I first started – it was very appealing to me, being able to earn income on the efforts of other people. In fact, one of the … the first book I was ever introduced to, and they showed it actually during this meeting, was Think and Grow Rich. And they talked about three things: OPI, OPE, and OPM. Other people’s ideas, other people’s efforts, and other people’s money. And that just made a lot of sense to me, being paid on the efforts of, you know, what J. Paul Getty says, “I’d rather get paid on 1% of the efforts of 100 people rather than 100% of my own efforts.” And I thought, wait a minute, that makes sense to me. Not like, “Oh, this is one of those things I heard that’s too good to be true” or any of those things. I didn’t have any of that. I just thought, this makes sense to me.

Vince Reed 8:34 – 9:05

Absolutely, absolutely. It’s so true. It’s so true, and that is definitely what creates freedom. So, you know, you’ve sponsored over 4,000 people in your career and I’m sure there’s been a lot more. In fact, I’ve actually seen him live, I know he does some really cool stuff where people can actually listen to him. At least back in the day I remember those calls where you would actually be on the phone talking to people recruiting them to your business.

But when you’re actively recruiting, why would a person want to join your team?

What were some of the things that you did that made joining your organization different from let’s say everyone else?

Todd Falcone 9:07 – 10:23

I think just what I represented to that person on the phone. They’re buying you before they buy the company or the products typically, so showing my commitment, showing my passion for what I was doing, being the guy that was responsible and if I said, for example, “I’m going to call you back tomorrow at 2”, I called them back tomorrow at 2. And just being that responsible, committed person I think was a big part of it. And I think more than anything, you know, when I really bought into the idea that network marketing was real and that it was possible and that I was operating from a position of belief rather than doubt, I think that was the great differentiator for me. And so that when I was on the phone with somebody, I was very convincing not because I was so skillful in my language and that I used some kind of masterful persuasion skills, but it was more the energy that I emitted on the telephone or in meetings that, you know, I really believed in what I was doing and that comes across in all that we’re doing. And if somebody is operating from a position of disbelief, it can be felt. And I was like that early on, I was a very, you know, my desperation could be felt on the phone and in meetings and it prevented me early on from being successful.

Vince Reed 10:23 – 10:35

And how were you able to kind of carry that over to your team? Like were you able to teach them this process, did you have good scripts for them?

Was there something that you were able to do to kind of help them get some of the similar results you were getting?

Todd Falcone 10:37 – 12:27

I think being able to impart belief upon an individual .. like today, we have facts and figures that we can show and share with someone that are legitimate facts and figures. Like last year, $178 billion in direct sales globally, 96 million people involved, 16.8 million people in the US are involved in direct selling in one way, shape, or form. That’s 5% of the US population. The profession as it stands today has been around for over 70 years. If you just look at the numbers, you can take a doubter and make them go, “Wait a minute, those are big numbers. You can’t possibly exist as a profession as we stand today for over 70 years and be doing, you know, close to $200 billion a year globally and be a scheme or a scam or a fly by night kind of thing.” And that gives a lot of people peace of mind. From early on though, you know, didn’t have those. Those statistics come right out of the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations. Years ago, we didn’t have that. So what did we have? Well, we had the opportunity and the idea of immersing people in success. And the more you surround yourself with optimistic big thinkers, big dreamers, doers, the more time you invest in those types of people and you surround yourself and you immerse your life in that, that rubs off on you and it changes you. It really changes your consciousness to a totally different place. So for me, the way I was able to kind of make that shift was early on through seminars and events and just spending a lot of time with other people in the profession, versus going home and hanging out with my beer drinking buddies that just were negative towards me and thought I was in a scam and made fun of me. You know, at some point in my life, I actually had to separate myself from some of those guys because they weren’t serving my best interests.

Vince Reed 12:27 – 12:47

Definitely, definitely makes sense. Now, I mean, you have a wealth of experience. I mean obviously you’ve connected with some of the best minds in this profession.

What piece of advice would you have given yourself when you got started?

If you could go back and talk to Todd back when he first heard about the industry, would there be anything specific that you would tell yourself back then?

Todd Falcone 12:49 – 14:11

What would I tell myself back then? Don’t act desperate. So early, I was. I was trying to talk my way and talk my prospects into the business and I just over talked. And I was trying to be so convincing and forceful. I think one of the things is, we want to be persuasive in all of that but being pushy is a little too much. So for me, just kind of coming from that – I think the phrase I would use for that is relaxed intensity. The relaxed part comes from just knowing that you’re in a legitimate, real business that is absolutely 100% for real and the potential is there for anyone who chooses to do it. And then coming from a level of intensity, that’s more your enthusiasm and your passion for what you’re doing. And people feel enthusiasm and passion. But I think it has to be fairly controlled because if you get a little too crazy, people will just think you’re nuts. So I don’t want to be like some crazy dude who’s so, “Oh, you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do this, you’ve got to do this”. It just becomes a little bit too much and then you end up alienating people, so it’s a balance of relaxation and being intense.

Vince Reed 14:11 – 14:48

Absolutely. Now here’s a question that I always love to ask people like yourself who have made millions in this industry, because I know that the person that was able to connect with you first either was extremely smart for continuing to be involved in the business or extremely not too bright if they quit before you became the Todd Falcone you are today. So was there anything interesting in terms of the story of the person that sponsored you?

So how did that first sponsor actually recruit you onto their team?

What happened there? How did that person get Todd Falcone on their team?

View The Rest Of The Transcript

Todd Falcone 14:49 – 16:57

Well I was sitting in my apartment at 1750 Redondo Boulevard in Long Beach, sweating in my non-air conditioned apartment and my phone rang and this guy says, “Is Todd in?” And I said, “This is Todd.” He said, “Todd, my name’s Jim. I’m calling you from Orange County Marketing Group. We’re a marketing company and we’re looking for people who can train and manage others in the expansion of our company, and we’d like to meet with you.” And that is word for word, that is exactly what that guy said to me 25 years ago and I remember it because it was a day that my life began to change and move in a different direction. And I thought, Wow I’m getting recruited into a job or something. In fact, he called and said, “I got you off a list of graduates in the marketing department of Long Beach State” and I really just said, “Wow, this is pretty cool, they’re already hunting me down. I didn’t know how the world worked.” And so I put on my only suit, my clip on tie and flew down to Irvine, California. and walked into a beautiful building and was greeted with a smile by someone at this front desk and “Would you like some water” “Sure” I sat down and then other people started piling in the little foyer and my palms started getting sweaty because now I have to give a good interview and I was nervous. I hadn’t given too many interviews. The only place I worked prior to that was Jack in the Box, McDonald’s, and Kelly’s restaurant parking cars. And I ended up walking into a business opportunity meeting and I was like, Well this is interesting. 50-60 chairs and a white board and some funky gadgets on the side of the room and a big screen TV. I go, “Oh, well I’ve never done this before.” And I thought … I didn’t even think anything of it, I just sat there and watched the presentation and it unfolded before me and I was like, “Hey, this makes sense.” And I gave them my credit card right then and there, maxed out my $500 college credit card. They gave me a convenience charge, I borrowed another $500 at 28.99% interest, and I started out with $1,000 in water filters back in 1989. So that was how I started. Later I found out actually, I don’t know if he said “I got you off a list of graduates”, maybe he did but talk about savvy. This guy was relatively new to the business and he went right into the marketing department list and found me in the white pages. Crazy.

Vince Reed 16:57 – 17:13

I mean I wonder, that probably would still work today. I mean, because that’s pretty impressive for someone to do that. Was that guy one of the top people in the company? Did he end up doing well with that strategy because I’m assuming if it worked for you, it probably worked for a lot of other people as well.

Todd Falcone 17:14 – 18:00

I don’t know that there was a whole lot of other people doing it but now that you bring it up again, that is probably a really great idea. You know, you go get a list of people graduating and I don’t even know how he acquired the list but he did, and then he started looking people up in the White Pages and I happened to respond. He wasn’t one of the top guys in the company at that point. He was pretty new but he went on to be pretty successful with that company and then he ended up finding a different passion in his life. I think he had a passion for starting kids camps, which I know he did. You know, it’s funny you asked that because about five years ago I talked to Jim and he’s like, “Oh my gosh man, I’ve followed your career for years and I remember the time I brought you into the business, it’s so cool, it’s like I’m almost like a proud father.” You know, it’s so funny to talk to Jim, he’s such a funny, cool dude. I haven’t seen him in probably 20 years, but great guy.

Vince Reed 17:59 – 18:20

That’s awesome, that’s great. So you know, you went on, you’ve had a successful long career and I’m sure you’ve talked to a lot of people and you’ve had a lot of ups and I’m sure there’s probably been more downs.

So tell me that worst story of rejection.

Was there ever a time where you just called someone maybe in the beginning and you wanted to just go hide and never come out of your hole for a few days?

Todd Falcone 18:21 – 20:03

I got a lot of rejection, a lot of family members and friends that said no to me. I mean, the only person out of my warm market that I originally sponsored was a friend of mine, Tom Bennett, who I actually reconnected with him just over a year ago. We’re friends again on Facebook, I hadn’t seen him for years. But he was like the only warm market guy. But one thing that happened to me really early on that I’ll never forget, and I actually use this lesson on stage quite a bit: I had this woman that had come in, I think she had come in through an ad response. I was running ads in the Orange County Times or Orange County Register and the L.A. Times back in the day, and she came in and she saw the business opportunity meeting, she was going to come back on Saturday to sign up and go through our Saturday training. And here I am waiting for her, I got my one person who’s going to show up and she pulled a no show. And so me in my position of desperation and anger, I picked up the phone and I called her and I got her voicemail, I was like, “You, I can’t believe blah blah blah”. I’m just saying not good things on her message machine. About five days later, my desk phone rang and I was like, “Good afternoon, this is Todd.” And it was the CEO of the company who I knew, and I knew his voice, he said, “Todd this is such and such.” And I was like, I’m like, “Wow”. I go, “Hi, how are you doing?” He said, “Listen”. He said, “I got a phone call from one of the people that you were going to sign up in the business and she played the voicemail message that you left on her answering machine.” And he goes, “If you ever do anything like that again as a representative of my company, you will be out of this business, out of this company, and out of network marketing. Don’t do it again.” Click.

Vince Reed 20:04

Wow.

Todd Falcone 20:04 – 20:17

And it scared the crap out of me and needless to say I learned that lesson, I never did it again and it was just.. so it wasn’t necessarily rejection but it was a bad, bad experience that I’ll never forget.

Vince Reed 20:17 – 20:44

And you know what’s funny, whenever things like that happen – and that’s one of the reasons I like to ask that question is it ended up being probably one of the biggest lessons that you can ever have if it’s something that sticks with you like that. Now, you know, dealing with rejection and dealing with things like that, you’ve obviously had a lot of success.

So what’s your best story of success for yourself and maybe a story of success for one of your students along the way that’s gone on to do great things in this industry?

Todd Falcone 20:46 – 23:23

It’s hard for me to point out a best story of success. I’ve had .. I’m not the kind of guy, I mean, I get all these plaques and stars and pins and all this stuff. I mean, they’re cool to have but I’m not one of those guys that posts them up on my wall and shows them for everybody to see. And I don’t blame anybody for doing that, I mean, recognition is really cool. Actually one of the things that just happened very recently, and it really doesn’t have a whole lot to – it certainly has something to do with my success in network marketing. I have a very good friend of mine that I spent several years working with, Mark Yarnell, who passed away earlier this year. And Mark and I, you know, when I first met Mark, I remember my friend called me up, I was leaving the golf course. My buddy calls me up and he said, “Hey, listen”, he said, “Mark Yarnell wants to talk to you.” I was like, “What?” I go, “What do you mean Mark Yarnell wants to talk to me?” And I think I was making like, $20,000 or $25,000 a month at my company at that time and he said – because I knew who Mark Yarnell was but he didn’t know who Todd Falcone is – he said, “Listen, he wants to talk to you.” And I’m like, “Really, is this a joke?” He said, “This is not a joke. In fact, our friend is launching this company and Mark’s taking on the master distributor role and he wants to sit down with you.” So I ended up driving to this Mexican restaurant, spent 5 hours in this Mexican restaurant talking to Mark about this company and I ended up working with him and we worked together for several years. And we had a lot of mutual interests: fishing and flying and crazy sports. Mark and I just had a really good rapport and he was obviously, I mean, the author of Your First Year in Network Marketing and he’s a legend in the business and he’ll never be forgotten. And when he passed away earlier this year, I was asked to give a tribute to him on stage at the Association of Network Marketing Professionals National Convention. And for me, to be asked to do that by his family and to have his wife say, “Look, you know, of all the people that Mark’s known – and he’s known a lot of people over the years – he would have loved nothing better than to have you talk about him at this event.” To me, that was probably one of the most amazing experiences and honors to be able to stand in front of everybody and talk about Mark and his life. So that was not directly a success story per se, but he obviously had a lot of respect for me and what I did in the network marketing profession and we had a great friendship and that was a big deal for me, so that was pretty recent.

Vince Reed 23:23 – 23:45

That’s awesome man, and I would say that is a success, and that’s one of those things we were talking about earlier, you know, the fact that you travel the world, you do all these things. You’ve come a long way from working at Burger King and McDonald’s to be doing that. I think that’s awesome and that is an amazing success story.

Any student that stands out that you want to mention that really makes you proud?

Todd Falcone 23:45 – 26:29

Yeah, there’s several but there’s one guy in particular. I remember, he called me one day, he was on my second level and he said, “Hey”, we had some rapport, he was a nice guy and we had done a couple calls together and were familiar with one another. But he called me up to give me an exit interview, which never pretty much happens and “Hey, I’m quitting”. You know, most people just cancel their autoship. And he called me and he said, “Hey listen, I’m just calling to let you know I’m quitting the business.” And I just said, “Mark”, I go, “Why?” He goes, “Well, I just, you know, I just don’t have the time. I’m so busy with my job and my commute, my family, my church and all this” and he said, “I don’t have the time.” And I said, “Well” … and we just talked for a couple minutes and I found out in that conversation that he’s driving, he goes, “I’ve got a 2-hour commute”. And I said, “Oh my gosh, you’re in your car an hour to work, an hour back?” He goes, “No, I’m in my car from 2 hours from Riverside to Los Angeles every day, and 2 hours home.” And I said, “Mark, what are you doing when you’re driving?” He said, “I’m driving, I’m listening to talk radio.” I said, “Dude, I’ll tell you what” and this was years ago when cell phones were really expensive. I said, “I’ll tell you what: if you go tomorrow and max out your cell phone minutes and you get your prospects ready on your way to work and get your list ready, I’ll be there to work with you and do three-way calls with you all the way into work, all the way home from work and I’ll commit to you if you commit to the process.” And he’s like, “Cool.” Next day, he called me up, he said, “I did it. Let’s do it.” And over the next 12 months, Mark called me with more people on three-way calls than probably everybody else in my group combined. And he went from nothing to over $10,000 a month and we did it 100% in his car. The next year he personally sponsored – I think the number, if I recall correctly was about 250 people that he personally enrolled in the company. That’s an average of 25 people a month. And the guy was … the company had this recruiting bonus that was going on back then, and he was the number one recruiter every single month. He out-recruited me by a landslide. I was second a bunch of times, but he was first by a landslide every single month and crushed everybody. He went on to … I don’t know, I think by the end of that year, his check was $17,000 to $20,000 a month. And then that didn’t even include all the recruiting bonuses. And then unfortunately that company fell apart, but he went onto another company after that and I think his earnings got up to $35,000 or $40,000 or $50,000 a month. He was able to sell his little condo in Riverside, move to North Carolina, bought a big, beautiful home over there and totally shifted his lifestyle. So I’ll never forget working with Mark and that whole story or power. In his car. Crazy.

Vince Reed 26:26 – 26:56

That is awesome. That may be one of the most powerful stories I’ve ever heard. And I mean, it’s a good point anyone listening should make is, you have the time if you just kind of step back and look at what you’re doing with your time. So that’s awesome, man.

So, you know, what would you tell a person getting started in network marketing?

Like the complete newbie, they’re just now getting on autoship, their product just hit the door. They’re brand new. Is there any bit of advice you would give that person?

Todd Falcone 26:58 – 29:30

Yeah, I’d tell them several things. I’d say immerse yourself in whatever training you have available. Surround yourself with all the successful leaders. Follow whatever proven system it is that they have. Don’t come in and even think about reinventing the wheel or doing it your way because you don’t have a way yet. And here’s the thing: if someone is making money and they have a proven way of making money and they’re willing to actually show you how they do that, you follow their system to a T. You don’t question it and you just simply plug in and you continue to do it. That was one of the very first lessons on success that I learned even before I was involved in network marketing on following a proven system. And then the old, I guess, whatever, people hear this all the time: just don’t quit. And that’s hard for a lot of people because they get in and you may not get results right away and most people don’t get the kind of results that they expect. So we set our own expectations on how much we think we should be making in a particular period of time, and almost every time we under-deliver on our own expectations around making money and it’s a disappointment and it’s discouraging. I didn’t make money for two years. I thought I’d be making money, I thought I’d be making $10,000 a month in the first 90 days. I quit my job three months into my business and I wasn’t making $10 a month, which was stupid. And I learned from that mistake, but plugging into the system, take action, be willing to face your fears and willing to hang in there long enough to make it happen and not comparing yourself to other people around you. I know we do, even as I say that, people do it all the time. But some people are going to go way faster than you and some people are going to be slower, but if you’re putting in the time, you’re committed to the process, you’re committed to your personal development, you’re recruiting, you’re doing stuff, and you’re not kidding yourself – a lot of people do that; they’ll kid themselves into … you know, I get people all the time that call me in my office. “Oh, Todd, I need your advice. I’m not successful.” I’m like, “Okay, so cool.” First question always out of my mouth is this: “Give me an idea of how many people n the last 90 days that you’ve exposed to your business.” And the typical answer I get is, “Not enough.” I didn’t ask you for not enough, I said ‘What’s the number?’ and then I’ll get, “Well, you know, 12.” “So you’ve exposed 12 people to this business in 90 days and you’re wondering why you’re not successful.” And they’re like, “Well … ” and then it’s just a reality check for them because they’re kidding themselves into thinking they’re actually doing it and they’re not. The only activity that matters in this business is whether you’re flipping rocks over and showing your product or service and your business to new people.

Vince Reed 29:31 – 30:03

You know, it’s kind of like when people say, “You know, I’ve been in the industry for a year and I haven’t made any money.” And you say, “How much time have you actually put in working the business?” “A day”. And it’s like, no time, or you haven’t actually been in it a year. You haven’t done anything. So just because you signed up in a year, how much work are you actually putting in?

Now what would you tell a struggling veteran, like the person that’s been in for a while?

Maybe they’re like you, they’re at that 2-year mark or that year mark and they haven’t really seen any money, and maybe they’re on the verge of quitting or giving up. Is there any different advice you’d give them or would it be pretty similar to the person who’s brand new?

Todd Falcone 30:05 – 30:14

Well I think if it’s a person that’s been struggling and they haven’t yet .. they’re a veteran of struggle, meaning they’ve been in for a year or two or a few years and they’re just continuing to struggle?

Vince Reed 30:15 – 30:26

Well let’s say it’s a person that their check is stuck at $1,000 or $500. They’re making a little money but they just can’t get over the hump and they’re at that point where they’re thinking about quitting.

Todd Falcone 30:27 – 33:00

I’d go right back to the same thing that I would do when somebody calls me. “Well let me ask you a question, so your check has plateaued at $1,000 a month. How many people have you talked to in the last 90 days?” The only way that I’ve ever found to get out of any doldrums, either in network marketing, direct selling, or traditional sales is you sell or recruit your way out of that. And so typically that is the biggest issue. Now, here’s the thing: let’s just be Devil’s advocate. While I’m talking to tons of people and I’m not producing anything. Well if that’s the case, then we need to look at what you’re doing because there’s something with how you’re doing what you’re doing that’s causing you to not get results. It might be that the person is coming across as too pushy, that they’re coming across creepy, that they push away their prospects because they’re just kind of awkward. I mean, it could be any number of things but if they’re doing the activity and then they’re not getting the result, then there’s something flawed in the activity. What I would do with that person is, you know, if you’re making calls and you’re not recruiting people, and you recorded a bunch of calls and you brought them to me, and I heard you and how you talk with your prospects on the phone, I’m going to immediately be able to pick up on whatever is going on and be able to fix it. I have a lot of people that I personally coach where they’re not getting the kind of results that they think they should be but they’re doing the activity and it’s very easy for me to pick up on what’s going on when I actually hear the conversation. So sometimes those people, if they’re making the calls and they’re not getting results, they can listen to the calls themselves. I always teach people, “Hey, if you want to improve the quality of your conversations, then record some of them and play it back.” I was in speech class. I hated speech class, and they made me talk about a number 2 Ticonderoga pencil in school and I had to be on a VHS tape. And “there’s 60 seconds, talk about this pencil.” I would get up there, I’m like, “Oh this pencil’s beautiful, it’s yellow, it’s got this gold trim on it, it’s fantastic. Look at this eraser and the point.” And I thought I got on stage like, “Yeah, I licked that.” And I get off the stage and the next couple days I come back to class, they give me the VHS tape and I’m standing on stage going, “Well this number 2, uh, pencil and, um, you know, um, like, um, you know, and, uh.” And I realized, “Holy smokes, I thought I’d just crushed it but hearing the recording gave me clear awareness that all I was doing was saying, “And, um, and you know”. And that enabled me to actually improve as a speaker, it made me very aware because here’s the thing: You can’t change things that you’re not aware of, so if you haven’t heard the phrase, “Awareness is the first step toward creating change” it is. And so if you create an exercise that enables you to be more aware of what you’re actually doing, you can then make a change.

Vince Reed 33:00 – 33:20

Wow, I have to tell you, there’s been so many nuggets in this interview. I can’t wait to go back and listen to it again, and I know everyone listening feels the same way. So what I want to do is move into what I call the time is money round. So I’m going to ask you a few questions and I’d love to get your response in 60 seconds or less. Is that cool?

Todd Falcone 33:21

Excellent.

Vince Reed 33:21 – 33:23

Alright, you ready to go?

Todd Falcone 33:23

Sure.

Vince Reed 33:23 – 33:29

Alright. So number one:

what is your number one marketing tip for new network marketers?

Todd Falcone 33:31 – 34:27

Well I would say my number one marketing tip for new network marketers is don’t vomit all over Facebook. That, in our social media driven age today, you posting about your business all day long, every day and that’s all you’re doing and then inboxing people, “Check my business, check this out, you should join this.” Posting on somebody else’s wall, flaming somebody else’s newsfeed or thread is wrong. You can very easily build a big following and great relationships on Facebook and you don’t have to be blasting your business everywhere. That doesn’t mean you can’t post every now and then about your business and get people to generate curiosity. But the things I see people do today, where you go to their wall and it’s just business, business, business, business, business, people tune out. They get sick of it. They don’t want to see it, and if you want to attract people, you’ve got to do things that create engagement. And when people do that, they’re creating people that are disengaged and un-liking them and un-friending them because they’re sick of seeing it.

Vince Reed 34:27 – 34:37

It makes total sense and so true. Alright, so here’s another for you:

you know, who do you look up to as a mentor or entrepreneur? Is there anyone specific that you’d love to share with us?

Todd Falcone 34:39 – 35:29

You know, there’s … some of the greatest authors of the world are – even though many of them I don’t know – are mentors to me because of what they’ve put on paper and taken the time to write and allow me to read. I see guys like in the Internet Marketing space like Frank Kern. Frank Kern has nothing to do with network marketing whatsoever. In fact, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even like network marketing. But the thing about Frank, for example, and I don’t even know if he realizes this, but the impact that guy’s made on me just from the standpoint of how he markets and the way he does what he does is so brilliant. He’s just such a great copy writer, he’s so fantastic with NLP and his use of skillful language. That guy is money. I mean ..

Vince Reed 35:28 – 35:31

I would definitely agree with you on that one. Love Frank Kern. Absolutely.

Todd Falcone 35:33 – 36:04

Yeah, he’s really cool. But as far as, you know, I’d say big entrepreneur outside of network marketing, Richard Branson is just an amazing, crazy guy that will just try anything and just his intestinal fortitude is the words that I’ll use, I won’t use the other word, but is just beyond measure. And to see some of the things that that guy does, the risk that he’s taken and the rewards that he’s been able to get as a result of it is just mesmerizing.

Vince Reed 36:04 – 36:19

Absolutely. Alright, here’s another one and a big one. And I’m sure every new network marketer probably wants to hear your reply to this:

how should a new network marketer approach a friend or family member about their business?

Todd Falcone 36:20 – 37:25

I would say not chuck it all over them like people do: “Oh my gosh, I just found this thing, you’ve got to get in, you’ve got to get in, oh my gosh it’s so great. You’re stupid if you don’t join.” I see people go crazy. Just chill out, take a chill pill, pick up the phone, call your friend, be you. Don’t be anybody but yourself and just say, “Hey, Vince, Todd Falcone, what’s going on?” “Oh, good, blah blah blah” Catch up. Say, “Listen, I’m calling you for a reason. I just launched into a new business, I’m super excited about what I’m involved in and I’d love to show you what I’m doing. When would you have 10 or 15 minutes for us to get together?” “What is it?” “Well, that’s exactly why I’m calling you, I just wanted to run by you what I’m doing so you know what I’m up to.” “Are you trying to sell me something?” “Bro, I’m not trying to sell you anything. You’re my buddy and I figured you being my buddy, you’d probably want to know what business ventures that I’m doing, I would just love to at the very least keep you abreast of what’s going on in my life and I’d love to buy you coffee and sit down with you or get on the phone or whatever it’s going to be”. And just be normal.

Vince Reed 37:25 – 37:29

So basically you’re saying, be a human being. Be normal.

Todd Falcone 37:29 – 37:30

Yeah, you don’t have to be slick.

Vince Reed 37:31 – 38:06

And it’s almost the same if you were to call your friend and tell them you just saw a cool movie. You wouldn’t have to do all this craziness to tell them to go check it out. So I definitely agree with you on that. Now man, I really appreciate it. This has been awesome, this is definitely one I will be going back to and listening to quite a bit. But for those that know me, they know that it’s virtually impossible for me not to share anything of value to you as well.

So is there any question you’d like to ask me whether it’s about traffic, marketing, business, life.

Feel free to ask away.

Todd Falcone 38:06 – 38:08

How’d you get so good looking?

Vince Reed 38:11 – 38:19

Man, I’d say I’ve never been asked that question before.

Todd Falcone 38:19 – 38:30

You know me, I’m a jokester. I’m just having a good time. No, I do have a serious question though. How did you create the massive following that you’ve created thus far?

Vince Reed 38:30 – 39:16

Consistency. I think that the biggest thing with anyone is just being extremely consistent. I’ll give you an example, I remember a year ago I said, “I’m going to put out a piece of content every single day and I don’t care really, it’s not about making more money. I’m just going to see what happens.” And just by being consistent and putting that content out, I actually was approached by a film company to be in a movie that’s being released and going to Sundance and potentially could be in theaters just by putting out content. I didn’t set out to put out content for that to happen, but it’s proof that if you’re just consistent with any action or anything that you do, you can make your dreams come true for sure.

Todd Falcone 39:18 – 41:13

That’s money right there. Consistency and you know what’s interesting is when you bring that up, that word is, you know, you can’t go to a seminar anywhere and not have somebody say, “You’ve got to be consistent.” And here’s something that I’ve found that’s really interesting. When someone says something and you’ve heard it before, and then you’ve heard it again and you’re like, “Oh my gosh, how many times have I heard you’ve got to be consistent? How many times have I heard you have to have belief. How many times have I heard … ” and then they start to tune out and they’re falling asleep at the event going … okay, I don’t need to listen anymore, I’m going to tune out. You know, there’s two types of people. There’s one person that does that and they think they know it all or they’ve heard it all before. And then there’s another person – and I’m this type of person – that goes, “Wait a minute. I hear people all the time that are successful that I look up to, that I aspire to be like, say that over and over again. Instead of me ignoring it, let me look at my own life and analyze that for a second and say, ‘Huh, how is that actually showing up in my own life?’ Am I actually being consistent in the areas that count? Or am I just tuning out?” And what’s crazy is you look at it and you go, “Wait a minute.” And if the person that typically tunes out who’s tuning out for whatever reason actually takes the time to look at their own life and go, “How consistent am I actually being in whatever that business practice or that business activity is?” They’ll probably look at it and go, “Wow, I’m really not being consistent. It’s like this is just a play thing for me.” And they’ll come to the realization that what they have been blowing off or ignoring is really the thing that they need to focus on the most.

Vince Reed 41:14 – 41:40

Absolutely, man. That’s why one of my favorite quotes in the world is, “The wise learns more from the fool, than the fool learns from the wise.” Basically what that means is, you better pay attention to both sides and not think you know everything, right? So it’s definitely true. Well, listen man, I truly appreciate you. Is there any place where we can definitely connect with you? I’m sure everyone listening will want to definitely connect with you after hearing that awesome interview.

Todd Falcone 41:41 – 42:26

For sure, there’s two places: obviously my website, ToddFalcone.com. T-O-D-D F-A-L-C-O-N-E .com. People can plug into me there, subscribe to my newsletter. I don’t blast you with too much stuff but I put out good stuff that if you’re involved in network marketing or direct selling, you’ll definitely like what I put out. And then certainly Facebook. I’m very active in social media and if you find me on my Facebook fan page which is Todd Falcone – Network Marketing Mastery, that’s the page you want to connect with me on. I mean, unfortunately Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t let you have more than 5,000 friends, so I do most of my business activities on that business page. But you know, there’s a lot of things that I put out through social media that people can also learn from. So I’d say those are the two primary locations for somebody to connect with me.

Vince Reed 42:27 – 42:42

Awesome, well I know that they definitely will. And again, I want to say thank you and that completes another awesome interview on Network Marketing Nation. And for those of you listening, I look forward to seeing you on the next one. Take care.

Vince Reed 42:42 – 42:59

Want to listen to additional interviews of six and seven figure earners sharing their stories? Visit NetworkMarketingNation.com. If you are a six and seven figure earner and you want to be featured on Network Marketing Nation, visit NetworkMarketingNation.com and click on the blue schedule interview button to apply.